


Wrapped in caramel

by Laughingvirus



Category: Chef RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-07
Updated: 2019-04-07
Packaged: 2020-01-06 09:57:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18386132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laughingvirus/pseuds/Laughingvirus
Summary: "I mean I’ve seen them on Australia’s Masterchef but this recipe made it look pretty damn neat.”





	Wrapped in caramel

 

 

 

 

 

“Hey Claire,” Amiel said, peeking his head through the doorway. Claire hummed, not taking her eyes off her work as she folded the egg whites into the batter. “A customer just walked in.” Claire hummed again. “He wants to you to make a croquembouche,” he continued and Claire paused.

“A what?” she asked, frowning as she looked up from the bowl of batter. The name rang a bell somewhere but Claire wasn’t a 100% sure on exactly what it was.

“A croquembouche,” Amiel continued, laughing as he stepped inside the kitchen. He pulled out his phone from his pocket, tapping the screen gently. “I was as confused as you first but it’s…” he trailed off, turning the phone to let Claire look at the screen. It was a tower of petit choux, wrapped up in what looked like melted caramel threads around it. 

“Oh,” she said. She recognized it now, as she took in the appearance. It was a common French and Italian dessert and it was especially popular in Masterchef Australia. A frown made its way onto her face as she looked back at Amiel. “Who is asking for this?” she asked and Amiel immediately rolled his eyes, smile on his lips. “Let me guess.”

“Sure.”

“Brad,” Claire said, rolling her eyes.

“Ding,” Amiel said. “That’s correct.”

“My god, I should have known that,” Claire continued, shaking her head. “Is he in here?” 

“Yeah he ordered a coffee and sat down,” Amiel said. “He said he would wait for you.”

“I’ll just finish this up and I’ll go see him,” Claire said, turning her attention back to the batter.

“I’ll let him know,” Amiel said, patting Claire’s shoulder before stepping out of the kitchen. 

  
  


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  
  


“Do you really want a croquembouche or did you just say that to mess with me?” Claire asked as she sat down in front of Brad, cup of tea in her hand. She hadn’t planned on Brad visiting today, but he had been lucky that she hadn’t taken her break before he stopped by. 

Brad laughed, leaning back in his chair. “Well it would be really cool if you made a croquembouche,” he said, correcting his beanie a little before reaching for his cup of coffee. “I wanna blog about a croquembouche, it would be super neat.”

“Do you even know what a croquembouche is?”

“I do,” Brad said, laughing into his cup of coffee. “I’ve seen plenty of seasons of Australia's masterchef and I really want to try a croquembouche.”

“It’s just a tower of petit choux,” Claire pointed out, taking a sip of her tea. “You have eaten petit chouxs before,” she continued, raising an eyebrow at Brad. 

“I know, but Claire,” he said, placing his cup to the side as he leaned forward. “You see,” he began, holding out his hands and Claire rolled her eyes, smile making its way up on her lips as he began with his usual, exaggerated hand movements. “It’s not just petit choux, it’s a  _ tower  _ of them.”

“Your point?”

“Wrapped in caramel!” Brad continued, big grin on his face. “What’s better than a tower of petit choux filled with cream and wrapped up in caramel. That sounds  _ delicious  _ to me.”

“I’m sure it does,” Claire mused, shaking her head. “Do you really want a croquembouche that badly?”

“Hell yeah!” Brad said, excited grin stretching even further. “That would be so cool. It would be a great blog post too!” he continued and Claire raised an eyebrow, giving Brad a rather unimpressed look. “Imagine all the customers you’d get if you made a croquembouche and let me blog about it.”

“That would mean a lot of people would come in here to order a croquembouche.”

“Your point?” Brad asked, smug grin on his lips. “Your business would increase if you just made a croquembouche. I’m going to get a croquembouche in one way or another, Claire,” he continued and Claire just shook her head.

“When do you want it?” she asked, deciding to ignore Brad’s victorious ‘ _ yes _ ’. “I can’t believe I’m doing this for you.”

“You rock, Claire!” Brad said as he turned to reach for something in the pocket of his jacket. He pulled out a crumpled piece of paper and Claire quickly snatched it from him, opening it. It was a recipe for croquembouche, but it looked  _ really  _ old.

“What’s this?”

“I found it in an old cooking magazine,” Brad said, leaning back in his chair again. “Kinda why I was interested in trying one. I mean I’ve seen them on Australia’s Masterchef but this recipe made it look pretty damn neat.”

“I could probably find a better recipe online but… I’m not gonna lie, this looks pretty fun,” Claire said, unable to hold the smile back. “You trust me to make one for you?”

“You made your own kit-kats, I’m certain you can make a simple croquembouche,” he said, shrugging. “Now I when do you think you can have it done because I need to hype my followers about this.”

“I’ll get it done as soon as I can,” Clare said, shaking her head.

  
  


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  
  


Claire crossed her arms as she looked over her work. After two days, she had an opening in her schedule that allowed her to try the recipe that Brad had given her. She had called Brad earlier that morning, telling him she was doing the croquembouche and he should be at the bakery in four hours. 

Not that she actually finished the whole thing in four hours. More like five hours. However, Brad had still appeared at the shop after four hours and had kept her company the last hour of “baking”. Really, the last hour had just been her trying to stack the petit choux in the cone and getting them to stick together and then wrap them up in caramel.

“It looks great, Claire!” Brad said, eyes sparkling like a child on Christmas. “Are you done?”

“I think I am,” Claire said, letting her eyes linger on her creation before looking at Brad. “Or is there anything you want me to change?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. 

“No, no!” Brad protested loudly, shaking his head. “It looks great. I mean just look at it!” he continued, adjusting his beanie a little. “It’s awesome!”

“I’m glad you like it,” Claire said as Brad pulled out his phone to take some photos of the croquembouche. “I hope you know I’m doing this for you.”

“Love you, Claire,” Brad said absentmindedly as he continued with his photos and Claire just rolled her eyes. “You’re gonna have to make so many more of these.”

“I’m praying I don’t have to,” Claire snorted, shaking her head but the smile on her lips remained. “Do you know how long it takes to make?”

“But Claire,” Brad protested, smug grin on his lips as he looked up from his phone. “It’s going to be so worth it,” he continued and Claire just hummed. “I’ve posted a little on snapchat about it already. I’ll just have to taste it before I can blog about it.”

Claire raised her eyebrows, gesturing to the tower of petit choux. “It’s all yours. Go at it.”

  
  


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  
  


“Claire,” Amiel said, peeking his head into the back of the bakery. “I got you another order.”

“Please,” Claire said desperately, looking up from her work. “Please don’t be another croquembouche,” she pleaded, groaning when Amiel offered her an apologetic smile. “Really?”

“Seems like people really want to try a croquembouche after Brad blogged about it,” he said and Claire sighed. “There’s now two more people that want a croquembouche for the weekend.”

“This was a mistake,” Claire said, filling yet another petit choux. At this point, she had lost count of how many petit choux she had filled. “A big mistake. I shouldn’t let Brad talk me into these kind of things.”

“You’re just too good of a friend to say no to him though,” Amiel said, turning around to leave the room and Claire just bit the inside of her cheek as he did, not bothering to deny it because she knew it was true.

  
  


 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> For @BLUEDREAMING on twitter
> 
>  
> 
> you can find me @ pinkpunchmango on twitter and curiouscat


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